“We need to hire a half-dozen rosin jawbos,” the frustrated cowboy says as he storms off.

I look at my brother, knowingly, as he says quietly, “If I could find a half-dozen rosin jawbos, I wouldn’t need buckaroos.”

I laugh. My brother doesn’t.

“Do you know what a rosin jawbo is?” my brother asks.

“It’s the ranch hand that does all of the jobs that buckaroos refuse to do,” I reply.

“No, no, no,” my brother says, “a rosin jawbo is like a chupacabra.”

My brother obviously struggles with analogy, as now I have two words I can’t define.

“A rosin jawbo is a mythological creature, like a sasquatch or a unicorn …”

“… or the tooth fairy,” I add to prove I get it.

“I was paid a nickel for every tooth I lost as a child,” my brother says, “that’s more proof of the tooth fairy than I’ve ever seen of a rosin jawbo.”

To better understand a rosin jawbo, I consulted the depository of modern knowledge … the internet. A rosin jawbo is a ranch hand that does the work not done horseback. So fencing, water systems, irrigation, haying, mechanical work and anything else a buckaroo claims can’t be done on horseback falls to the rosin jawbo.

I wanted to know more, so I submitted my query to AI. To comply with this periodical’s AI policy, I use AI like an interrogation. I will build a rapport with AI, then use good cop/bad cop, followed by an expletive-laden tirade … all unsuccessfully. Then I explain to the AI, as condescendingly as possible, that most cowboy terms like ranch, buckaroo and lariat are bastardizations of the Spanish words rancho, vaquero and la reata. I demanded curtly that AI analyze rosin jawbo in that light. AI finally gave me a satisfactory answer. Rosin is most likely from the Basque word erresene, which is a tinsmith, a tinker or general handyman and chavo, which is the Spanish word for kid … erresene chavo or handy kid. Picture someone like me pronouncing erresene chavo and it would sound like rosin jawbo.

The rosin jawbo is unique to ranching, but the concept is universal in agriculture. There is a long list of jobs in agriculture that require a rosin jawbo ... a handy kid. Picking rock requires a rosin jawbo. Manually picking crops is rosin jawbo work. Hoeing crops and milking cows are hard jobs that no one excitedly does. Perhaps the most rosin jawbo job in southern Idaho is changing irrigation water.

When changing water required a shovel, plastic dams, siphon tubes and hand lines, changing water was grueling. Mechanization and automation with center pivot technology has made the chore of irrigation less grueling. Is irrigation with these new technologies still rosin jawbo work?

Mowing the lawn can be a chore, but there is a big difference between mowing with a manual reel lawnmower and a fancy zero turn riding mower. Modern agriculture is becoming more riding mower and less reel mower.

There is an ongoing debate about these rosin jawbo jobs in agriculture. The jobs are physically demanding and often long hours for low pay. These positions remain difficult to fill, even as mechanization makes them easier.

In fact, some contend that these are jobs Americans won’t do. To fill this labor gap, the federal government offers the H-2A temporary guest worker program for foreign workers to legally work in the U.S. The H-2 program started in 1952 and was revised in 1986. The H-2 program was split into H-2A for agriculture workers and the H-2B program for non-agricultural workers. The H-2B program is currently under scrutiny as 10 million American workers are unemployed, with AI threatening to displace even more workers.

There is a long checklist to ensure that American workers aren’t displaced and an even longer checklist to ensure the foreign workers are treated fairly.

Everything in agriculture has changed since 1952. Automation and mechanization have eased the burden of many of the hardest jobs in agriculture. Should we ask Americans again if they could fill these jobs that Americans seemingly won’t do? Recruiting at the local high school instead of hundreds or thousands of miles away may carry other advantages.

On a ranch, the rosin jawbo was an entry level position. A kid that wanted to be a buckaroo would do the riderless tasks in the hopes of one day learning the horseback craft. That is the chavo part of rosin jawbo … a kid. If local kids did the jobs on a farm or ranch that no one else wanted to do, could that inspire more kids into agriculture? If kids aren’t interested in agriculture, jobs like farm and ranch manager, herdsman and equipment operator may soon become jobs that Americans also won’t do.

I have always believed in mythological creatures. I knew a sasquatch in college until he got a haircut and shaved. I have a picture of a unicorn on my phone. A one-horned cow fits the description of a unicorn, right? I also believe there are people who will do unsavory jobs in agriculture, especially as those jobs become less physically demanding. I believe in the tooth fairy, the Easter bunny and that guy on the ranch that does the jobs that can’t be done horseback … the fabled rosin jawbo.